Andrew Kitchen we've never had but he was 4th official the other week when Ipswich spanked us. Josh Smith we've had four times and the only time this season was when we won at Wednesday.
Anyone know the penalty stats - Bolton get lots, because they have in the box - lots. Need a strong referee against them.
Kitchen has only had 3 Bolton games and has already given them a penalty back in 2021 which Eoin Doyle scored in a 3-0 EFL trophy game at Rochdale.
Josh Smith has reffed two Bolton games and they have both finished 0-0 so don't go expecting a goal fest
Smith wasn't too bad at Hillsborough if I remember rightly and he also did the 2-2 draw at home v Norwich at the end of the Val season. We lost twice with him in charge last season but we lost with everybody in charge last season. The only thing that's slightly surprising about his appointment is that he's originally from Peterborough. Kitchen's appointment seems to have come more from left-field as it's only his second season and he's more often than not been found in League 2 this season. He has however refereed a recent Bolton game (end of April) and so their players will have a familiarity with him that ours simply don't have. I'm potentially a tad worried by this appointment of such a rookie in the face of the inevitable Bolton play-acting and ref-baiting that they are so expert in.
Can we do an Iswich and demand a different ref who will be more favourable - thats if we can find one of course
We could do a compromise, if we can’t have a ref that gives Barnsley penalties ( I’ve heard they do actually exist) can we have one that doesn’t give penalty’s to our opponents